Expansion swelled the league to 12 teams and 2 divisions. San Diego was added, as was Montreal, making this a truly international league. Atlanta won a strong West Division, with San Franciso 3 games out, Cincinnati four back, Los Angeles 8 behind, and Houston 12 back with their first .500 finish ever. San Diego was last, of course, with 110 losses. In the East, a big surprise as the Mets took first place with 100 victories. The best the now 8-year-old franchise had managed before was 73 wins. Chicago led for the first half but fell off to 8 games out. Pittsburgh finished 12 out and St. Louis was 13 back. Philadelphia lost 99 games and was the only returning team below .500. Montreal lost 110 games, the same as their sister Padres franchise did. The Mets had more surprises up their jersey sleeves, as they upset the Braves in the inaugural League Championship Series, then toppled the mighty Orioles in the World Series.
Pete Rose won his second straight batting title with a .348 average, edging Roberto Clemente's .345. Cleon Jones was third at .340. Lou Brock led in steals with 53, edging Joe Morgan at 49. Willie McCovey led in HR, RBI, and OPS, and won the MVP. McCovey's 45 HR was just ahead of Hank Aaron at 44, while Mac's 126 RBI edged Ron Santo at 123 and Tony Perez at 122. Bobby Bonds and Rose each scored 120 runs. Matty Alou had 231 hits. Alou had 41 doubles and Clemente 12 triples.
Tom Seaver led in wins with 25 and got the Cy Young. Phil Niekro was second with 23 victories. Seven others won 20 or more. Fergie Jenkins led in strikeouts with 273, edging Bob Gibson at 269. Juan Marichal led in ERA with a 2.10 mark, followed by Steve Carlton at 2.17, Gibson at 2.18, and Seaver at 2.21. Fred Gladding led in saves with 29, followed by Wayne Granger and Cecil Upshaw at 27.
Win Shares leaders, players; Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 39, Hank Aaron (Milwaukee) 38, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 37, Jim Wynn (Houston) 36, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) and Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 31, Cleon Jones (New York) 30, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati), Tommie Agee (New York) and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 28, Bobby Tolan (Cincinnati), Rusty Staub (Montreal), Matty Alou and Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 27, Ron Santo (Chicago) and Lee May (Cincinnati) 26, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Joe Morgan (Houston) 24.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 33, Tom Seaver (New York) 32, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 29, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Bill Hands (Chicago) 28, Claude Osteen and Bill Singer (Los Angeles) and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 26, Fergie Jenkins (Chicago), Larry Dierker (Houston) and Jerry Koosman (New York) 25, Steve Carlton (St. Louis) 24.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Bench 9.9, Rose 9.7, McCovey 9.2, Staub 8.7, Jones and Bonds 7.7, Wynn 7.5, Tolan 6.8, Stargell 6.5, Perez 6.4, Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 5.9, M. Alou 5.5, Santo and Don Kessinger (Chicago) 5.4, Agee and Felix Millan (Atlanta) 5.2.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Dierker 10.6, Niekro 9.1, Gibson 8.6, Marichal 8.3, Hands 8.0, Seaver 7.5, Carlton, Perry, and Denny Lemaster (Houston) 6.5, Jenkins 6.2, Osteen 5.9, Singer 5.8, Koosman 5.1.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): McCovey 8.4, Aaron 8.1, Clemente 7.5, Wynn 7.2, Perez 6.9, Bonds, Jones, and Rose 6.7, Staub 6.6, Santo 6.4, Agee 5.9, Bench 5.8, Stargell and Tolan 5.6, M. Alou 5.0, Davis 4.9. Pitchers (bWAR): Gibson 11.0, Dierker 9.0, Hands 8.8, Marichal 8.5, Perry 7.8, Jenkins and Seaver 7.6, Singer 7.3, Carlton 7.2, Koosman 6.7, Niekro 6.6, Osteen 6.2, Lemaster 5.7.
Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20: 38 players received at least one vote) | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+----+-----+---+--+
1 Willie McCovey SFG 11 265 336 0.79 | 491 157 45 .320 1.108 0
2 Tom Seaver NYM 11 243 336 0.72 | 91 11 0 .121 .354 1| 25-7 273 2.21 1.039 208
3 Hank Aaron ATL 2 188 336 0.56 | 547 164 44 .300 1.003 9
4 Pete Rose CIN 0 127 336 0.38 | 627 218 16 .348 .940 7
5 Ron Santo CHC 0 124 336 0.37 | 575 166 29 .289 .869 1
6 Tommie Agee NYM 0 89 336 0.26 | 565 153 26 .271 .806 12
7 Cleon Jones NYM 0 82 336 0.24 | 483 164 12 .340 .904 16
8 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 51 336 0.15 | 507 175 19 .345 .955 4
9 Phil Niekro ATL 0 47 336 0.14 | 95 20 0 .211 .479 0| 23-13 284 2.56 1.027 193 1
10 Tony Perez CIN 0 28 336 0.08 | 629 185 37 .294 .883 4
11 Maury Wills TOT 0 17 336 0.05 | +623 171 4 .274 .673 40
12 Ernie Banks CHC 0 15 336 0.04 | 565 143 23 .253 .725 0
13 Johnny Bench CIN 0 12 336 0.04 | 532 156 26 .293 .840 6
13 Rico Carty ATL 0 12 336 0.04 | 304 104 16 .342 .951 0
15 Tony Gonzalez TOT 0 8 336 0.02 | +502 135 12 .269 .724 4
15 Wayne Granger CIN 0 8 336 0.02 | 21 2 0 .095 .304 0| 9-6 145 2.80 1.265 68 27
15 Ron Hunt SFG 0 8 336 0.02 | 478 125 3 .262 .702 9
15 Don Kessinger CHC 0 8 336 0.02 | 664 181 4 .273 .698 11
15 Denis Menke HOU 0 8 336 0.02 | 553 149 10 .269 .756 2
15 Jimmy Wynn HOU 0 8 336 0.02 | 495 133 33 .269 .943 23
McCovey and Seaver got the same number of first-place votes, but Big Mac got more overall support.
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Tom Seaver NYM 23 23 24 0.96 | 25-7 273 2.21 1.039 208
2 Phil Niekro ATL 1 1 24 0.04 | 23-13 284 2.56 1.027 193 1
Niekro actually got a vote!
Rookie: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+------+-----+---+--+
1 Ted Sizemore LAD 14 14 24 0.58 | 590 160 4 .271 .670 5
2 Coco Laboy MON 3 3 24 0.12 | 562 145 18 .258 .717 0
2 Al Oliver PIT 3 3 24 0.12 | 463 132 17 .285 .778 8
4 Bob Didier ATL 2 2 24 0.08 | 352 90 0 .256 .628 1
4 Larry Hisle PHI 2 2 24 0.08 | 482 128 20 .266 .797 18
Top player: Willie McCovey. Other arguments can be made, but McCovey led Win Shares, as well as the writers' vote. That's a good argument.
#1 Willie McCovey, #2 Hank Aaron, #3 Roberto Clemente, #4 Pete Rose, #5 Jimmy Wynn, #6 Tony Perez.
Top pitcher: Bob Gibson. Seaver got all the attention, but Gibson had a better year. He wasn't as good as in 1968, so he didn't get the notice.
#1 Bob Gibson, #2 Juan Marichal, #3 Tom Seaver, #4 Phil Niekro, #5 Larry Dierker, #6 Bill Hands.
Top rookie: Al Oliver. Oliver, Hisle, and Richie Hebner are all viable candidates. Not sure how Sizemore snuck in there.
Top manager: Gil Hodges turned in one of the great all-time managing jobs.
No comments:
Post a Comment